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Call for action after medical records theft

24/ 7/2008

A HEALTH campaigner has called for tighter security to protect medical records after the data belonging to 3,500 patients from a medical centre in Littleborough was stolen.

Paul Mainwaring, chairman of the Patients’ Council, said he believes the NHS could be doing more to reduce the number of incidents where confidential data is lost or stolen.

He was speaking after the Observer exclusively revealed that 3,500 patients from Trinity Medical Centre, in Winton Street, had their full medical records stolen during a burglary in the Rochdale area on 12 July.

Mr Mainwaring said: “Our view is that the NHS generally needs to do far more to secure patients’ records because far too often records are being lost or stolen.

“The data was encrypted but, nevertheless, we are worried it could be used for the wrong reasons. In this modern day and age, it’s time that patients’ records were protected with greater security.”

This week, Trinity Medical Centre apologised to patients and promised to review its security procedures.

A spokesperson for the practice said: “We are very sorry that this unfortunate and isolated incident has occurred and want to reassure our patients that this represents no risk to the continuation of their care at the practice.

“Technical experts have confirmed that the details would require specialised IT equipment to read the data. It would be extremely difficult to view the tape on a normal computer.

“We are working with Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale Primary Care Trust to review our security procedures to ensure that this does not happen again to us, or any other practices in the borough.”

A full review of data management procedures has been launched by the Trust to prevent further losses.

Any concerned patients should contact the Patient Advice and Liaison team on 0800 121 4430.

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